• The Washburn Ichabod softball team will carry an eight-game winning streak into its first MIAA home games of the season as they will host Fort Hays State on Friday in a doubleheader starting at 3 followed by a Saturday twin bill against Nebraska-Kearney starting at 1 p.m.
• In between games on Saturday, March 27, approximately 2:30 p.m., Washburn Athletics and the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation are excited to announce the dedication of the Washburn softball field in honor of Bill and Emilie Gahnstrom. The Ichabods will be celebrating their first MIAA homestand of the season and playing University of Nebraska-Kearney. All former softball athletes and donors are welcome to attend.
• The Washburn Ichabod softball team was picked fifth in the 2021 MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll released prior to the start of the season by the conference office.
• The MIAA has made a change to the 2021 Championship Softball Tournament after a unanimous vote from the conference's athletic directors and SWAs. This year's format will include a best-of-three game quarterfinal series starting the weekend of May 7-8. The advancing four teams will play in a double-elimination tournament at the University of Central Oklahoma the following week, beginning on Thursday, May 13. The quarterfinal round weekend will feature games at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds from the regular season. Those teams will host seeds No. 5-8, with the winners advancing to the semifinal round in Edmond, Okla., the following weekend.
 
 Last time the Ichabods were in action
• Jaycee Ginter was a perfect 3-0 in the circle with a complete game tossing 19 2/3 innings striking out 27 holding opponents to a .253 batting average … she struck out a career-high 11 in the 10-1 win over Pittsburg State on Sunday … also had 8 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings pitched against Southern Nazarene in a win … also scored eight times as a batter collecting five hits with two home runs and drove in seven runs in 20 at bats.
• Ashton Friend batted .615 during the week with eight hits in 13 at bats while scoring four runs and driving in four with four doubles recording a .923 slugging percentage and a .563 on base percentage … against Pitt State in the opener, she tied a school record with 3 doubles … she also drove in two more runs on sac flies.
• Marrit Mead led the team with 10 hits scoring seven runs batting .476 for the week …she was also a perfect 3 for 3 in stolen bases and drove in seven runs.
• Bri Francis hit .500 with eight hits scoring five runs and drove in seven.
• Raegen Hamm was 2-0 during the week with a 4.54 ERA.
 
 Bods and Ends
• Mead has a seven-game hitting streak and Francis is on a six-game hitting streak entering the weekend.
• Marrit Mead leads the Ichabods with 14 multi-hit games and is batting .533 (16 of 30) with runners on base.
• Jaycee Ginter is 6 for 7 (.857) with a runner on third and less than two outs this season.
• Hadley Kerschen is 8 for 12 (.750) batting with two outs this season and leads the team with eight, two-out RBI.
• As team the Ichabods are batting .686 with a runner on third this season.
• In the March 22 NCAA rankings, the Ichabods were leading the nation in sacrifice flies.
• Washburn is outscoring their opponents 32 to 6 in the fourth inning this season and 12 to 4 in the first inning and 24 to 8 in the second inning … overall the Ichabods have outscored opponents 131 to 53 … the only inning the Ichabods are being outscored this season is the seventh where opponents have a 10 to 4 advantage.
 
 Opponent quick scout . . .
Fort Hays State
• The Tigers are 8-10 this season and 2-0 in the MIAA after sweeping Lincoln in their conference opener.
• Sara Breckbill leads the tam with 15 RBI and a .373 batting average.
• Michaelann Nelson is 4-6 in the circle with a 1.90 ERA.
• Washburn leads the series 43-36 winning five of the last six meetings.
 
Nebraska-Kearney
• The Lopers are 9-9 and 1-3 entering their MIAA doubleheader with Emporia State on Friday before traveling to Topeka to face the Ichabods the next day.
• Carlee Leisch is batting .448 with 30 hits and 13 runs scored while stealing 11 bases.
• The Ichabods trail the Lopers 30-23 and Washburn has won six of the last seven meetings.
 
 Head coach Brenda Holaday . . .
• is 125-87 in her fifth season as the Ichabod head softball coach.
• coached the previous 19 seasons at Washburn Rural High School in Topeka compiling a 351-93 record.
• led the Junior Blues to three 6A state championships as well as winning 14 league championships earning 16 6A state tournament berths, five second-place state finishes and three third-place state finishes and was inducted into the Washburn Rural High School Hall of Fame in 2018.
• was named the Centennial League Coach of the Year and City Coach of the Year nine different times earning the Midwest Sectional Coach of the Year in 2011 and the 6A Kansas Coach of the year two times in 2008 and 2011 and was named the overall Kansas Coach of the Year in 2011.
• while at Washburn Rural, she coached more than 40 players who have gone on to play college softball including three at the NCAA Division I level including former Ichabod head softball coach Lisa Carey, the winningest coach by wins in program history.
 
 Washburn Ichabod softball history . . .
• The Ichabods are 1181-917-1 in their 52nd year of softball.
• The Ichabods have made four NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008, 2018).
• Washburn won the 2002 and 2018 regular season MIAA titles.
 
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